Hi,
Today on the exit to Orange Ave. from the 405 on my way to Mazdatrix, I have shot an Apex Seal, had the car for less than 5k miles since last owner (from 55k to 60k). I guess I made a mistake when I bought a lemon car, and the guy together with the dealership claimed that the car had 07' engine.
I have replaced the oil on the car twice, filters and flushed the radiator but the car had pretty weird knocking sound during the last two weeks. I'm trying to check the options on what to do, Swap? Rebuild? Reman? what would you guys suggest my budget is 3k with labor. I live in SoCal. Thanks.

 

Is that 3k with labor as in 3k total or did you mean 3k plus labor? You can get a reman from mazda for less than 3k but you are better off buying a rebuild engine from a quality shop. Try talking to mazmart or a rotary shop in california.

 

it's 3k total including the labor. Any recomendation, I found Lucky 7 and Mazdatrix, any other suggestions?

 

You would be lucky if that 3k got you the possibly shitty reman from mazda, but I think it might cover that depending how much they charge for the engine. There are lists of california shops kicking around, check rx7club also.

I can't really personally recommend any shops. With 3k you are not going to be able to get a quality rebuild w/ install done at any of the above shops. This is just based on reading other threads with people who actually got their engine rebuilt somewhere or bought one from them. You can try talking to the shops you mentioned and get a ballpark figure.